University of Southern Maine nixes campus event with Francesca Albanese

The University of Southern Maine, a public school, has terminated an agreement for its facilities to be used for a “Consequence of Palestine” conference, which was slated to include remarks from Francesca Albanese, a special U.N. rapporteur whom the federal government sanctioned for her anti-Israel remarks.

The day-long conference, which was scheduled for Feb. 28, was to be hosted by the school’s criminology and sociology department, with Maine Coalition for Palestine and Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights.

The public school told JNS that it had “terminated the agreement for the use of USM facilities for the Consequence of Palestine conference after learning that one of the event’s speakers is sanctioned by the federal government and appears on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s office of foreign assets control’s specially designated nationals and blocked persons list.”

That “legally prohibits any U.S. person or entity from exchanging any goods or services with those on the list,” the university told JNS.

The event was to take place in the school’s Hannaford Hall, part of its Abromson Community Education Center. The center is named, in part, for the late Linda Abromson, a Jewish activist and Portland’s first female Jewish mayor.

JNS sought comment from the school’s criminology and sociology department on Wednesday. A staff member confirmed that the department planned to host the event and knew that Albanese was sanctioned by the U.S. government. JNS sought comment from the university, which receives federal funds, about whether the department will host the event off-campus.

Albanese has a long history of antisemitic comments. Several European Union foreign ministers condemned her comments and called for her resignation in recent days after she referred to a “common enemy of humanity,” widely interpreted to refer to the Jewish state, at an Al Jazeera conference.

She has said that an edited video distorted her remarks. A transcript of her full remarks does not appear to match her explanation—that she was referring to a system allowing Israel to commit “genocide,” rather than talking about Israel being an enemy of humanity.

In July, the Trump administration sanctioned Albanese after she tried to intimidate U.S. companies doing business in Israel and threatened to include them in her reports on human rights abuses.

The university’s conference also includes Fateh Azzam, former director at al-Haq, which the U.S. State Department sanctioned in September for being “directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute Israeli nationals without Israel’s consent.”

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